FMC in the News: 2014

With news of Apple’s $3 billion acquisition of Beats Electronics breaking today, Billboard reached out to prominent executives and thinkers from across the music industry to get their thoughts on the deal.

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Everyone’s vying to turn streaming into something that will be profitable, but for the winner, revenue may not come to a music service alone. Apple is fundamentally a lifestyle hardware company. Beats Electronics is a powerful lifestyle brand. The downturn in download sales means Apple has a brief window of opportunity to get into the streaming market with a service that can be easily integrated into their OS. It’s still a walled garden, but there may be more walls.read more

The FCC by stepped bipartisan opposition as well as the music community. Last month, Eddie Vedder, Michael Stipe, and Tom Morello joined many other artists in signing an open letter to the commission protesting the change. But protests by musical advocacy groups such as the Future of Music Coalition and Free Press have been applied in vain.

The statement, “The next 120 days are going to be big,” tweeted by the Future of Music Coalition portends an ongoing fight against e-stratification.

Abby Martin talks about the Army’s review of Chelsea Manning’s request for gender reassignment surgery and her potential transfer from a military to civilian prison, where there are much more threats to her safety. Cody Snell reports on the demonstrations at the FCC over the recent ruling that erodes Net Neutrality. Casey Rae, director of Future of Music Coalition talks about what a post-neutral internet would look like to independent artists and musicians. We revisit the case of Ibragim Todashev, an associate of the Tsarnaev brothers, and the fact that the identity of the FBI agent who executed Todashev has finally been revealed - a sociopathic ex-Oakland police officer with a tarnished history of unlawful beatings and arrests.

THIS week, it seems, has brought us closer to the end of net neutrality, with the FCC getting closer to approving a pay-to-play “fast lane.” The fear among purveyors and enthusiasts of indie culture is that there will be a tiered Internet, one for wealthy corporations and a slow one for the rest. Enormous power would go to broadband companies.

It’s still unclear where this is all going, but one important group — Future of Music Coalition — has released a letter to the FCC chair urging a return to the open Internet and arguing that “the FCC is now proposing rules that would kill — rather than protect — Net Neutrality and allow rampant discrimination online.” The letter continues: read more

The jockeying ahead of a vote at the Federal Communications Commission on net neutrality is heating up — and now it’s pitting big cable conglomerates against indie entertainers.

On Tuesday, two groups released dueling letters to FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler on his draft plan for the future of the Internet. On one side: executives from broadband providers like AT&T, Cablevision, Comcast, Cox, Time Warner, and Verizon. On the other: a rag-tag coalition of songwriters, actors and filmmakers.

Michael Stipe must be losing his religion right about now. Music fans might want to perk up their ears, too. The Federal Communications Commission met today on a plan that could overhaul the online experience, and the commissioners voted by a three-two margin to move the proposal forward. The decision has been hotly anticipated, with critics warning it could harm the idea of an open Internet and undermine net neutrality, the concept that Internet service providers shouldn’t be able to restrict how the rest of use the service. read more

The Federal Communications Commission met earlier today to discuss a plan that could change the Internet experience as we all know and love it. Commissioners voted by a three-two margin to move the proposal forward and their decision has been hotly anticipated, as critics say it could challenge the open Internet experience and belittle net neutrality. Net neutrality is the concept that says Internet providers shouldn’t be able to restrict how everyone uses the service.

The Federal Communications Commission on Thursday took the first step in a net neutrality plan that could make it harder to access Netflix, Facebook and YouTube, or guarantee your access to those websites under certain circumstances.